Nestled in the rainforests of Panama is a bird that is unlike any other found in the South American region.

In fact, the sapayoa's closest relatives are found around the Indian Ocean in parts of Africa and Asia.

The sapayoa's similarity to birds in those distant parts of the world has long been noticed, and different species often evolve to become similar to each other because they of similar lifestyles.

But now scientists have confirmed this really is a lost bird, the only example of its genetic family to be found for thousands of miles in any direction.

The sapayoa's (pictured) similarity to birds in distant parts of the world has long been noticed, and different species often evolve to become similar to each other because they of similar lifestyles. But now scientists have confirmed is the only example of its genetic family to be found for thousands of miles in any direction

Quite how it ended up so far from other members of its lineage remains a mystery, and researchers are still baffled about its reproductive biology and social behaviour.

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Sarah Dzielski and Benjamin Van Doren of Cornell University discovered that sapayoas build their nests hanging over the water along ravine-bottom streams in the jungles of eastern Panama.

OLD WORLD BIRDS

Many Old World birds of the sub-order Eurylaimides are cooperative breeders like this, with family groups helping to raise young.

This sub-order is also noted for building pear-shaped hanging nests, just like the sapayoa.

But Eurylaimides are confined to tropical regions around the Indian Ocean, and no other group member has been found elsewhere.

In fact, the sapayoa is so different from other birds that it is currently placed in its own family, called Sapayoidae.

They describe their observations, made in the remote Darién National Park, in the journal The Auk: Ornithological Advances.

One nest was occupied by a family group with an adult male and female, plus two immature males and two chicks - which were fed by all four other family members.

This unusual behaviour was one of the clues to the birds' mysterious history.

Many Old World birds of the sub-order Eurylaimides are cooperative breeders like this, with family groups helping to raise young.

This sub-order is also noted for building pear-shaped hanging nests, just like the sapayoa.

But Eurylaimides are confined to tropical regions around the Indian Ocean, and no other member of the group has been found elsewhere.

Many Old World birds of the sub-order Eurylaimides build pear-shaped hanging nests, like the sapayoa. But Eurylaimides (Long-tailed broadbill pictured) are confined to tropical regions around the Indian Ocean, and no other group member has been found elsewhere

In fact, the sapayoa is so different from other birds that it is currently placed in its own family, called Sapayoidae.

Even its scientific name hints at the mystery: Sapayoa aenigma, being Latin for enigma.

'The sapayoa has long been a mystery bird,' said Jon Fjeldså of the University of Copenhagen, who first identified the bird's unusual origins in 2003.

'When we identified it as the only Old World suboscine in the New World, it only became more mysterious.'